Speakers

Overview of Age-related Hearing Loss

Sung Hwa Hong

Samsung Changwon Hospital

Nov. 30 15:20~16:00

Abstract

It is generally known that one third of people between the age of 65 and 74 years have some degree of hearing loss, and half of people older than 75 have similar hearing difficulty. Age-related hearing loss, also known as presbycusis, is the gradual hearing loss mainly caused by degenerative changes in hearing sensory organs in the inner ear (cochlea). People with this type of hearing loss usually have difficulty in communication, especially in noise, with their friends or family members and this trouble frequently leads them to feel the social separation. In addition, it was reported that hearing loss itself can be related with dementia. To overcome these problems, most of them need certain types of sound amplification devices like hearing aids with multiple technologies for better communication.

Multiple aspects related with age related hearing loss including biologic backgrounds, psychoacoustic changes, amplification devices for hearing loss, and epidemiology will be touched. In addition, some new technologies for hearing measurement and hearing amplification will be introduced.